September 02, 2011

In my post about "Sparrow on The Ground" I talked about being depressed and, per my doctor, I needed to take several weeks away from home in a secret location.

Now that I'm back home I am able to disclose my chosen spot. As we live in Illinois we decided on going to one of our State Parks called "Starved Rock." While it is only a few hours away from us, I had never been there before. And, as many of our Parks are, it was gorgeous.

Since the trip was on such short notice we unfortunately had to stay in a motel for the duration as the Lodge Hotel was fully occupied (we've already decided to return with proper accommodations reserved).

Before we left we had to decide what to do with our doggy Copper. Originally I thought we would take him. It costs more to have him with us, but we are a pack after all. The plan was to spend the days under a shaded tree with Copper leashed appropriately, petting him to soothe the two of us, and reading a book via my IPad 2. And then, as the departure date arrived the weather decided to turn into a 100 degree heat wave being forecast to last throughout the entire stay.

For me it would have been better to be a snow storm. I have never tolerated heat well. Ask my mother. She knows. On a family trip with my parents and my adult self we drove from Illinois to California. No air conditioning in the car and camping along the way. After one long day's drive in ungodly heat I went crazy. Pulling at my short hair and long bangs (which continues to be my signature hairdo), sweating and shouting "I can't take this anymore!" I found some scissors, went to the bath house and proceeded to cut my bangs off as well as most of my hair. I've seen old movies where the starlet had to shave her hair as punishment for cavorting with Germans. It was NOT the first time I'd done this...the first time was when I was doped up and in unbearable pain with a migraine and my distorted thinking was if I cut off all my hair the pain with go with it.

Sorry, I got distracted. So here is this horrible heat wave upon us. It changed our plans because we weren't sure how to handle Copper. He couldn't be outside in the heat either. Neither did we want to leave him in a motel room alone as he howled his feelings of mistreatment and abandonment to the rest of the guests.

So we were down to two choices. We could leave him at the Vets for $30 a day, and more if we wanted them to let him out of his cage more than twice a day. Or, he could stay with our daughter and her three teenagers. While this was a better place than the Vets, it still had its downs. As you may know, a home with three teenagers is full of raging hormones. Copper is very sensitive to raging hormones. And, even more importantly, our daughter is not well and I thought the addition of our dog might cause more tension for her. When I spoke to her about Copper she told me of someone in our town who took dogs in.

Bob looked in the phone book and found the perfect solution. A lady who has two small dogs of her own and loves dogs in general takes in a dog or two as companions to hers. The fee was very acceptable. With a nice lady, a large fenced in yard, and two buddies, Copper would be in heaven. I was so relieved knowing we could leave him in a safe and happy place.

April 02, 2011

The last few years I have had a growing love for circles which turned into 3D circles more fondly known as bubbles. I love their characteristics of grace, transparency and light reflections. For all their beauty and symbolism they have one huge defect. They burst.

Off hand, below are some of the burst bubbles that have recently ruined my day:

Housing... I was at last able to purchase a condominium. This was just as the Housing market was beginning to rise. Wow! After about four years the value of our home increased by 40%. What an investment. And, then the bubble burst.

Health... Neither of us were in A+ form, but well enough to enjoy our retirement by being physically able to do what we wanted. And, then the bubble burst about two or three years into our new life.

Wealth... We were never "wealthy," but lived a comfortable middle class lifestyle. And, then the bubble burst and we have not received a cost of living increase in neither social security or pensions for the last two years even though costs have risen.

Car... The last car we purchased was a wonderful Honda Odyssey. We thought this could be the last car we purchased if used and cared for properly and paid for it in cash. We could see the bubble burst as we neared and passed 200,000 miles driven due to unexpected usage.

Grown children... We erroneously thought that once children were grown we would be on our own, so to speak. And then the bubble burst. How could we have been so naive? We are family forever.

Humanism... We believe in the strength and goodness of people. The bubble burst, what with terrorists, tea baggers, and such. We still believe in the innate goodness of humans, but some need a little re-education.

Earthquake Disaster-Free Zone... Except for tornadoes, we thought by living in the Midwest we were in a pretty safe part of the country. Bubble burst when we learned we live near one of the largest fault system in the country.

Tsunami Disaster-Free... Sure, we're not near an ocean, but what about Lake Michigan? POP!

Nuclear Energy is Clean and Safe... tell that to the Japanese people. Our bubble burst after listening to American Nuclear experts and learning just how unsafe our reactors have been.

Republican Ruses... As a progressive Democrat, I've never really cared much for those Republican rascals. But, all and all, thought they were relatively benign since the Democrats would come along and hopefully fixed what ever was broken. That bubble didn't burst, it exploded this year. They ran on the economy and "jobs, jobs, jobs." They brought in the Tea Baggers. Yes, I know I'm being politically incorrect by not calling them the Tea Party. But at this moment the Tea Baggers is what they are: filled with ignorant bitterness and good only for dunking. With a majority in the House they proceeded to work on taking back women's, as well as children's, rights. Republican Governors ran on fixing the economy and then proceeded to take away union bargaining rights. They have taken the position that to get rid of the deficit they will take away entitlement programs for the elderly, the young, and the poor. This is instead of taxing the corporations that have made BILLIONS in profit and currently pay 0% in taxes. The Republican Congress has done everything in its power to make President Obama fail and become a one term president.

Racial Equality... our first African-American President was such a wonderful happening. To be able to see that in my lifetime, my mother's lifetime, gave me great joy. And that bubble burst when I saw the racial hatred expressed by American Caucasians. Any newspaper or on line commentary regarding President Obama had comments that included the words: n****r, tar baby, Muslim, non-citizen, coon, darky, and jungle bunny.

Religious Freedom and Tolerance... Even though our country was founded on freedom of religion that bubble was definitely busted when the Twin Towers came down. Anything to do with Muslims was not tolerated. People actually thought about doing the Japan Internment Camps again, but with Muslims. Do we never learn when we've done something on the WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY? And then we have this guy:

December 02, 2010

A few people noticed I stopped writing. Thank you. My computer crashed from viruses. In case any of you have not experienced this, I have now crashed twice. Let me explain.

My mom asked if I should just buy another computer. Well, not really. I have a friend who fixes these crashes. But, even with backup, you pretty much have to build up the computer just like you've been doing the last year or so doing before the crash. So, unless the hard drive is killed, or worse, there isn't any reason to buy a new computer. Unless, of course, it's time for a new one anyway.

Most everything we experience should provide us with at least one learning point. This time around I've learned that computers should be turned off when not in use. Especially overnight, 'cause while you're sleeping the viruses are eating up your data and programs. Even if your computer goes into a "sleep" mode. They do this very quietly so as not to wake you up. But, they do it none the less.

Bad people send out viruses because, well, because they can and they're bad people. The attacks come into our computer through various means: worms, trojans, etc. They come in attached to something else, like maybe the chain letters we all receive. The trojans skip by safe guards because they are like the Trojan Horse - the outside is great, but dangers are hidden inside. Worms kind of tunnel in and once deep inside start to devour everything.

More News...

The Chief and I have been watching the news lately. This is something we have not done for a long time. Why? It's depressing. And, we get our news on-line.

But we recently discovered MSNBC: Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O'Donnell. After that we go to the Comedy channel and watch Jon Stewart and then The Colbert Report. Whew!

In the photo at the top of this post is our super-dog Copper. Copper watches from his place on our bed the same things we do. His now VERY long bangs are intended to send us a message: "I can't watch this political stuff anymore!"

Hmm. I wonder what his reaction to watching Fox would be. We'll never know, because then I would have to hide under my covers with my pillow over my head, and my fingers stuck in my ears.

September 25, 2010

I've worked most of my life. As a single mother for quite awhile, my life consisted of work and taking care of my daughter. At one point I worked my way up to a Department Manager in our local hospital. I supervised, hired, fired, did budgets, wrote proposals, became accredited in the field. I hated it. I did it very well for about 16 years. But, I hated it and the stress from that hate wore my health down.

After several layoffs at different places I wanted to retire early due to my health...and with the real opportunity of being able to do so, I did (thank you Chief).

My mom told me later she thought I would be unhappy when I retired, losing the validations I received through my job.

But, guess what? I found I could do other things that I never had the time for before. As a volunteer, I learned how to edit videos for broadcasting on our local community television station. It was the first time my "creative" side was demonstrated to the outside world. And I received many good validations for my effort.

My health deteriorated further the last year or so. The editing I loved to do, and did about 40 hours each week, ceased. I became somewhat limited in my physical abilities. Always loving the computer, I decided to try my hand at blogging about 11 months ago.

Recently my mom said to me "Sharon, I didn't know you could write!" Well, I didn't know either. I keep plugging away. Some readers and friends have told me I have a "gift." Sometimes I write about memories, sometimes about current events. Mostly, I write about looking out my window.

And, it's just amazing how much I see from my window. Everyday is like a field trip in my office chair. Right this very moment I am watching the Canadian Geese migrate from one window pane to another.

My hope is I can give a giggle or a warm snuggle to a reader... to someone who needs just that, just then. And ultimately, perhaps, the feeling that they are on a field trip, too.